To appreciate where Malik Hooker is today — which is to say, flying around the football field saving touchdowns — you must first appreciate where he was less than 10 months ago: On his back. On an operating table. Undergoing surgery on a ruptured ACL.

The Colts safety sustained the injury in late October against the Jaguars, but he was unable to have surgery until Nov. 10 because doctors were forced to wait until the swelling on his torn MCL subsided.

It was an excruciating delay for a player who already was taking the league by storm with three interceptions in the first six starts of his career. But now that he’s come out on the other side, in rapid and impressive fashion, Hooker is reflecting on how he went from reconstructive knee surgery to seemingly midseason form in such a short time.

“Just knowing the person I am and the competitor I am, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to come back and be just as good as I was before,” Hooker...